Young, Sleek And Full Of Hell: Ten Years of New York's Alleged Gallery

(Paperback)

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Description

New York's Alleged Gallery was a playground of artistic display for those who were involved in its creation. The gallery also served as a willing accomplice to some of the most vibrant American artists to come along in decades. This is the physical and visual representation of the spirit that was born from this urban experiment.

Reviews

"Alleged represented total freedom, belligerence and anarchy! Also, if it weren't for Alleged, myself and a lot of other artists would probably be working at Starbucks" -- Terry Richardson
"Every opening seemed a little sketchy. There were like crazy happenings, drunken kids yelling in the streets, drugs, cops." -- Chloe Sevigny
"It might be a little romanticized in my memory, but it had a big impact on me." -- Spike Jonze

Author Bio

Aaron Rose is an artist, writer, musician, film director and independent curator, currently living in Los Angeles, well known as one of the cornerstones of modern urban art movement. For ten years (1992-2002) he was owner/director of the Alleged Gallery in New York. In 2006, Rose was co-curator of the museum's exhibition "Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art & Street Culture", which toured the world through 2009. Rose was also director of the feature documentary film Beautiful Losers (Arthouse Films/Oscilloscope). In 2011 he co-curated (with Roger Gastman and Jeffrey Deitch) a large exhibition titled "Art In The Streets", which opened to record crowds at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA). The Los Angeles production company, who's director represents Rose, also represent Mike Mills, Patrick Daughters and Sofia Coppola. His publishing imprint, Alleged Press released hardcover books by many contemporary artists including Ari Marcopoulos, Ed Templeton, Mike Mills, Barry McGee and Chris Johanson. Rose is also co-editor of ANP Quarterly, an arts and culture magazine published by skate/surf brand RVCA. Besides this, he is the founder of Make Something!, a nationwide art education program for teens, which partners world-renowned creative personalities with young aspiring artists. The artist, born in 1969 Oregon, believes that life is nothing more than a dictionary of symbols: "We look to symbols everywhere to help us make sense of our existence. From the mundane to the mystical symbols are totems that give order to the chaos and also help define ourselves as a tribe." From his very first works, symbolism has always played a major role. However, rather than use symbols for their intended significance, Aaron Rose always preferred to re-contextualise meanings in unexpected ways - creating abstract visuals composed of symbols invented and culled from the annals of visual history. Typography and hand-lettering has also played a big role in his work. While living in New York in his early twenties, Rose supplemented his income working as a sign painter on the Lower East Side. The artist's current series of works takes this a step further. The abstraction of symbols has been pushed a step further to create figurative portraits.